Grim
by bandgrad2008
Summary: Ten years since the end of the world. But it's not the end anyone expected. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious in any way.**

**A/N: I meant to post this yesterday but got caught up with other stuff. This is probably going to be one of the darkest fics I have or ever will write. The idea belongs to Invader Johnny. Warning: This story will contain graphic material. If gore upsets you, then you might not want to read this.**

**Otherwise, enjoy.**

Chapter 1

Wasteland, 2022

Her eyes open, a bizarre silence bringing her out of a deep sleep, and she rolls onto her side, her eyes searching the room. When she's sure there's no one in her presence, she sits up and holds her head in one hand. Nightmares once welcomed have become a form of torture, and she knows she must rid herself of that pain. She's become an empty shell, a creature of evil, dictating the balance of life and death, deciding who lives and who dies.

A scream shatters the peace and she hears the familiar footsteps nearby in the hallway. Three knocks on the door and a male voice. "This morning's execution waits for you." He's accepted this fate, being nothing more than a messenger, a pawn in her games. She doesn't know why she keeps him around, his face being a constant reminder of what she's lost, but maybe that's the reason. Besides, she needs someone she trusts, and he's the closest thing to a friend she has since The Day. No one had ever expected this to happen, the transformation caused by a simple snap. "Tori? Are you awake?"

She's irritated that he said her name as he did ten years ago, but she can't be angry with him. "Yeah, Beck, I'm up. Go away." She hears his footsteps as he leaves her alone with her thoughts, and she slips out of bed. She takes note of her appearance in the mirror, her once bright glow a dark outline, her eyes nearly red with bloodlust instead of their former cheerful chocolate brown. Her face bears two scars, memories of before.

Turning away from her reflection, she dresses quickly, the black comfortable and respectable to her demeanor. She felt like a skeleton, the typical picture of death, but she never was one to follow the crowd.

Another scream fills the silence and she leaves her room, going downstairs to find those she once counted on. The now-depressed redhead, deprived of happiness, sits on the couch, jumpy with anxiety, nervous that Death will take her next. Her eyes are fixed on the floor in front of her, her hands folded in her lap. She barely speaks anymore, aside from answering Tori's questions, terrified that if she speaks out of turn, it will be the last thing she does.

Sitting opposite of her is the awkward, curly-haired brunette boy, his hand void of the old, sarcastic puppet and replaced with a stump, courtesy of Tori Vega. He never speaks, and Tori really doesn't know why he's alive anymore. It isn't that she wants him dead, just not in her presence. But the boy does have his uses.

In an individual chair is seated her former best friend, his arms crossed and the distant look in his eyes, hope remaining dim through them. Tori acknowledges it, accepts that he may be looking for a chance to destroy her, and she's prepared for his attack. They've become enemies, but she hasn't found herself able to execute him.

There's a girl in the middle of the living room, her arms tied tightly behind her back, none other than Trina Vega holding her on her feet. Tori approaches her sister and the next victim, reaching toward the girl and touching her face. She has an uncanny resemblance to a dark-haired girl she once knew, but this girl is not _her_. No, _she_ is never returning to Tori, and the half-Latina knows that. Tori holds her hand out by her side and feels the icy feel of the metal staff materializing in her hand.

"No, please," the girl begs. Tori eyes her, momentarily shocked that the girl dares to speak, her voice familiar. No, this girl _can't_ be. She looks to her sister, who seems to be just as confused, although more toward Tori's behavior than about the girl. Tori shakes her head. She's letting the memories take over, clouding reality. She raises the scythe, feeling the others look away, and smirks as she slices downward toward the girl. There's one final scream before the girl drops to the ground, nothing more than a lifeless corpse.

Trina's eyes meet her sister's before she turns and leaves the house, a false obedience in her. Tori turns to the room's other occupants and silently orders them away, save Robbie, his eyes on his stump of an arm. Cat and Beck leave instantly, Andre lingering behind to make his hatred toward Tori known before he follows.

Tori looks to Robbie, the awkward boy avoiding her gaze at all costs. "I need you to do something for me," she tells him in barely a whisper. He glances up at her, his eyes curious. She has never told him directly to do _anything _for her, instead sending Beck or Cat to him with the message. "I need you to keep an eye on the others, especially Andre and Trina. Something may be going on and I want you to tell me everything that happens between them. If they speak to one another, if they even come in contact…I want you to tell me." He nods and leaves the room, and she looks around, memories weaved through this house like spider webs, silver threads of the forgotten past tangled in the walls.

She can never forget The Day, that godforsaken day that she never wants to remember, but she can't rid herself of what's been done. She's tried many times, only to receive agony.

The woman crosses to the window and stares out across what used to be Los Angeles, a wasteland now, houses burned to the ground and the earth split open after a series of earthquakes. Tori has no doubt in her mind that there is a resistance, waiting for their chance to strike, possibly led by Andre or Trina.

Today is the tenth anniversary of The Day and Tori Vega has much planned. Her eyes rise to the blackened sky, the blood-red moon the object of her attention. All of this is her doing, her reason to forget, her blood thirst. She's going to make it a Day everyone will remember and fear. And when she's through, there will be no one left to change anything.

She will succeed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: If I owned Victorious...this would be one dark show...**

**A/N: Between constantly writing (or trying to write) Break, school, other stuff, and writer's block, this chapter has been on hold for a bit. Mostly because I couldn't figure it out. But thanks to IJ, it's done.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 2

Wasteland, 2022

The bar is noisy, despite the occupants' fear of Tori. Things are almost normal here, as if Los Angeles isn't a leveled city around them. Most of the people in the bar used to be the nicest people anyone could ever know; now they're the worst creatures to ever come across. Terror creates monsters of men, fear etched into their minds and the very depths of their souls, transforming them into spineless cowards.

At a table in the farthest, darkest corner sits the awkward man, drink in hand, watching his surroundings. There was a time where he'd never be seen in a place such as this, when things were going pretty well for him. He had something to live for, even though his life was dominated by a talking puppet, but still…He was never full of regret and despair as he is now.

_He sits on the edge of his bed, Rex on his lap, the two of them arguing about what happened earlier that day, how Tori had completely lost her mind. Their discussion is interrupted by a scream downstairs and Robbie rushes to the living room, prepared to incapacitate the object of his mother's terror. However, when he finds his mother, he notices Tori a few feet away, scythe in hand. "Leave her alone!" he shouts, false confidence in his words, and she knows he's afraid._

_She smirks and angles the blade toward Robbie and Rex. Something bites his hand and he looks down in shock. Rex, his lifeless puppet, is just that, lifeless. There's an ominous sense in the room now, something that itches Robbie like a rash. His mother is staring at Rex in shock and fear, but before Robbie can figure out why, Rex jumps off of his arm. "I'm done with you, puppet boy." Robbie's dumbstruck, frozen in fear at the possibility of his puppet coming to life. The living puppet snatches a knife and spins around toward his previous taxi, slashing at Robbie. The boy's arms snap up to block his face and he screams in pain as the blade slices through his arm, cutting neatly through skin and bone. "You can't control me now!" Rex shouts, gloating of his victory._

_Robbie tries to rid the knife, but Rex slashes again, this time catching him across the stomach. Between the gushing from his stump of an arm and the gash across his belly, he's losing too much blood, his vision blurred, his brain fuzzy and light. The last thing he hears before the world goes black is the sound of his mother's horrified, bloody scream as Rex swings the blade through her throat._

He's waiting for his targets to walk through the door, knowing they'll arrive shortly. This isn't his first visit; he knows Trina and Andre come here often. As if on cue, the door opens and the duo enters the bar, both of them glancing around for a table. Andre's eyes find Robbie's and the two of them move in his direction, passing a table of drunkards playing poker. The familiar weirdo sits at that table, managing to keep a bar brawl from breaking out.

Trina sits between the two men, her eyes fixed on the table in front of her, and Robbie can tell something's off but he doesn't say anything. He never says anything, no matter what he sees. Andre glances at him, nervous, but it's Trina who speaks. "We have to do something about Tori, Robbie. We can't go through this anymore and letting her live is just going to make things worse. She'll eventually want to expand her 'empire' and take over other places and that's too many lives that will be lost that should be left alone."

She has a point, but there's no way to stop Tori in this lifetime. She's immortal, Death personified, a shadow among people. With no way to defeat her, Tori is the invincible, the bringer of their doom. Andre shakes his head. "There has to be some way to stop her."

Robbie shrugs and looks to Trina, who's deep in thought. Of all the people in the world, including Andre and Cat, she knows Tori better than anyone alive. "The only weapon against her doesn't exist anymore and even mentioning _that _will piss off Tori more than anything." She glances around the bar and sighs. "How many of these people will end up dead tomorrow? Next week? Next month?"

Andre reaches out and touches her arm. "Trina, calm down. We'll think of something."

Trina can't calm down. There are so many reasons why she hates her sister; Tori is the cause of their parents' death all those years ago, of Andre's and Cat's and Beck's and Robbie's parents. She's the reason for Robbie's missing arm, for the deaths of thousands of people.

"_Tori, calm down! It isn't your fault. It isn't anyone's fault that this happened," Trina tries, but her sister is too far gone to listen to her. Their parents are trying to stop her from destroying the chapel, but there's nothing that can be done. Their daughter has become someone else entirely. Trina knows she's wrong in what she did here, but Tori's been unstable for days. _

_Tori smirks, an ominous glow in her eyes, and before Trina can stop her, the chapel is shrouded in darkness. The older Vega girl hears screams, the echoes making it impossible to determine from where. A hand closes around her throat and suddenly her sister's face is inches from hers. "I really should kill you," she snarls and it impales Trina's soul like an ice pick. Tori's eyes are crimson, dark as blood, something that Trina will never forget._

"What are we supposed to do, Andre? Do we sit around and wait for Tori to get tired of us and kill all of us too? God only knows she wants to."

Andre nods and glances at Robbie. "Do you have any ideas?" The silent man shakes his head, unable to contribute to their thoughts. "Damn it. There has to be some way to end this. We can't keep living like this, always cowering under Tori's power."

GRIM

Tori paces the living room, the notebook in her hand, the words bouncing in her mind. Andre and Trina are planning ways to stop her, to kill her, and she can't let that happen. They might not have an answer yet…but what if they do? Then what will she do? She stops pacing and hands the notebook to Robbie, whose eyes are dark and empty. She reaches out to touch his shoulder and he flinches. Her hand drops. He fears her enough; she doesn't need to continue her control over him. "Go and get some rest." He nods and exits through the front door, leaving Tori alone to her thoughts. She crosses the living room and climbs the stairs to her bedroom, slamming the door open. _Damn it!_ Trina and Andre can't defeat her; why is she worried? Do they actually have a chance?

"You've really let yourself go, haven't you?" Her eyes snap to her headboard, where a pale girl with dark hair sits, twirling scissors. "What in the hell happened to you, Vega? Ending lives, _planning_ to end lives, trying to be so goddamn immortal…Did I miss something?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Victorious.**

**A/N: Okay first, I want to apologize profusely for not updating this story in nearly a year. I just haven't been in the right state of mind to work on the chapters and for some reason today I'm just in a mood, I guess. **

**Anyway, I'm so sorry for not posting sooner.**

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 3

"_Tori!" She hears Trina calling her name from downstairs, but she's just too tired to deal with her today. She shouldn't have to deal with her today. She groans and rolls onto her side, coming face to face with a certain Goth girl with a smirk that makes her want to roll her eyes. She wants to ask how long she's been in the bed, but knowing her, she climbed in through the window at least four hours ago. "Tori, it's breakfast time!" Go away, Trina… _

_Jade pulls her close and kisses her. "You know, Vega, you probably should go downstairs for breakfast. You won't be spending the day with your family, and God only knows if you don't eat with them, that wretched, talentless sister of yours is going to want to go with us." Tori frowns, wondering what Jade has planned for today. She still hasn't told her, and it's bothering her. Because it's Jade, it will probably be a trip to the morgue or something… "Vega, come on." She rolls out of bed and grabs Tori's wrist, dragging her downstairs to the kitchen._

_Trina and the Vega parents are sitting at the table, waiting for them, and Tori notices there's a plate set at an extra seat. They obviously knew that Jade was going to be joining them for breakfast. The paler girl pushes Tori toward her seat before taking hers next to her, a smirk gracing her lips. She doesn't ask why she smirks anymore, always knowing that the answer will never be a straight one. _

_Breakfast is silent, aside from Trina's usual spiel about Jade, which causes Jade to respond venomously. Tori has gotten used to Jade's bite, immune to the poison she spreads when she's angry or upset, and people have asked her how she can be with her. Jade's hand finds Tori's under the table and she shoots her a genuine smile, one she's only seen on her face a handful of times since they began dating._

"Don't make me remember things, Jade," Tori snarls, and the paler girl's brow twitches in amusement. "That isn't us anymore."

Jade crosses her arms and narrows her eyes, examining the demon before her. She knows what happened, that nightmare etched in the front of her memory, forced to relive that day every time she closes her eyes. "How did you go from being sweet, not-so-innocent Tori to…this?" And her voice is almost broken, as if she can't believe it. Because even if she did, it still doesn't make any sense. "Usually when someone says they want world domination, it's not even close to becoming real." She smirks, but it's false. Tori always got whatever she wanted, no matter what.

"I thought you were into this kind of thing," Tori counters with a sneer. The girl before her isn't amused, shaking her head in disgust. "Death and gore was always your thing."

"I was, but this isn't you. You disgust me, Tori." There's a rapping of knuckles on the door, causing Tori to turn away from Jade. "They all miss what you used to be. There's no reason that you can't go back to that."

Tori growls. "You don't know anything anymore. You're out of my life, so just stay there." Jade nods, fading against the dimming lights, disappointment in her eyes and a frown tugging the corners of her lips downward. Tori closes her own eyes, as though doing so will erase the memory of Jade's presence. But she knows it won't. It never has been able to, instead torturing her.

Her hand twitches and grabs the closest thing to her, chucking the lamp on her bedside table clear across the room into the opposing wall. The glass of the bulb shatters, the lamp lying in a mangled mess on the floor. She hears the rapping of knuckles on the bedroom door, growling at whoever it is to go away.

They don't. "Is everything all right in there?" Of course it would be Beck, concerned minion as he was. Tori doesn't have friends…She hadn't had friends for far too long; they only caused expectations to fail and disappointment to arise. Friends were a weakness.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go away." She doesn't know why Jade chooses now, ten years later, to visit her, when Tori needed her before.

GRIM

The church is deserted, the building surprisingly still standing after the massacre that had taken place so long ago. The doors are chained closed; Trina stares at the padlock, removing the key from her pocket. A distant memory of Tori's transformation replays in her mind as she unlocks the lock, tossing the chain onto the ground and prying the door open.

Within are the charred remnants of the pews, of the altar and the closed mahogany casket, which somehow had survived the fire, bones littering the floor. Carefully stepping over those who had been burned alive, Trina approaches the casket, placing a hand on its surface. No one has been close enough in ten years, otherwise they would have noticed the scratches on the casket.

_Tori clenches her fists and slams one down onto the closed half of the casket. The room goes silent and she turns to them, her eyes set on Trina. "How dare you! How dare you disrespect Jade at her own fucking funeral!" Trina's eyes widen. She's never seen Tori this upset about anything, but she knows she deserves to be yelled at. Beck was Jade's ex-boyfriend, and acting as though she could have him just because Jade is gone is one of the most disrespectful things she could do. _

"I'm sorry, Jade," Trina whispers, tracing one of the scratches. "Tori is like this because of me, because I couldn't respect you during your funeral, because I didn't care about Tori's feelings involving you. If I had, maybe Tori wouldn't be like this." She releases a nervous chuckle. "If you hadn't died, you might have been okay with Tori being a psychopath, wouldn't you have? Would it have bothered you if she shared your admiration for sick and twisted thoughts?"

She stares at the casket, as though she's waiting for an answer, and realizes how silly that would be. Of course there would be no response. Jade was dead.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious.**

**A/N: Guys, I'm so sorry I've left this hanging for so long. I just got in a mood to write it and so here's the chapter. Hopefully I can start updating it more, but it takes a certain state of mind for me to do so, considering. But this is going to start everything really. **

**Enjoy.**

Chapter 4

Beck lies on his back on the moth-eaten sofa in the hovel he calls home, his eyes tracing cracks in the ceiling. A moment from earlier replays in his mind; he had gone to Tori's room to inquire something of her—the actual object of his question having escaped his thoughts now—when he had heard a strange, familiar voice. He had waited for someone to exit the room, but there had been a crash and that had concerned him with Tori's safety.

After Jade's death, Tori had become a monster, destroying everything. Although most now fear her, and it would be arguable that she even had a sliver of humanity left inside her, Beck couldn't abandon his hope. He had promised Jade in a dream long ago that, no matter how destructive she became, he would never leave her.

He frowns, unable to forget the voice he had heard through Tori's bedroom door. Who had been in the room with her, and were they alive? Or had Tori murdered them, as she had done to countless others who had gotten in her way?

"Beck, I need you." Beck nearly leaps out of his skin at the soft, yet firm voice, and he sits up abruptly, whipping his head around toward the door of the shed. There, stands a solid image of the girl he thought he would never see again, the girl whose death indirectly began this fight for survival. His heart pounds violently against his chest as he stares at her in awe and wonder, a small hint of fear in his eyes. "I need your help," she continues, crossing her arms and leaning against the door.

Standing, he approaches her, hesitantly reaching his hand toward her. At the shake of Jade's head, he runs the same hand through his hair and steps back. "Are you really…are you really here?" he asks quietly.

"I'm not your imagination, Beck, but I'm not alive. I came here to offer an escape from this world, to make everything right." She pauses and stares at him for a moment, before releasing a heavy sigh. "I need you to promise that you can do what I ask of you. You can't just try to, Beck. I need you to do this _no matter what_."

Beck hesitates, knowing that she wouldn't ask anything of him like this unless it was a life-or-death situation. However, as long as Tori existed, everything would only be a survival game. "I promise, Jade. Whatever you need me to do, I'll do it."

The apparition nods and reaches into the back pocket of her jeans, removing a small remote. Green eyes rise to meet brown and she frowns. "First of all, you must _never_ let Tori know that you have this. Given certain reactions she has to things, she might very well kill you. Second, it's extremely important and should be treated as such. But you will not use it." Beck raises a brow. "Andre and Trina have to."

"Andre and Trina…why?"

Jade smirks, but it disappears almost immediately. "Trina is Tori's sister. It's easier for her to do the most important things when she has to. Andre is Tori's best friend. He can distract her and get her alone better than you can. No offense," she adds hastily, but Beck can only nod in agreement. "What I need you to do is this: Find Andre and Trina and give this remote directly to Trina. She will know what to do with it."

Beck inclines his head and takes the remote—a black, rectangular device with twelve buttons, ten of which are the numbers between zero and nine—before slipping it into the back pocket of his jeans. "If I'm not using it, what is my role in all of this?"

Jade reaches out and cups his cheek with her left hand, although her touch isn't really there. "Stay here and protect Cat and Robbie. If Tori realizes that Trina and Andre are gone, she will be angry and she will possibly torture the three of you to learn about their whereabouts. She's already aware that Trina and Andre are formulating a plan to overthrow her. Find them before she does." She smiles sadly. "I never wanted any of this to happen. I love her too much for this to be the end."

Beck places his hand over hers but touches his own face. He sighs. "I won't hurt her, Jade."

GRIM

Trina has to find Andre. She can't quite explain what happened or why she needs to find him, but something in those scratches on the casket…Well, she felt something. There was a faint voice, whispering her name, instructing her to do something. She halts. The voice had given her instructions in defeating Tori, a chance to change everything and recreate their lives.

How in the hell is she supposed to do that? She continues her journey, marching toward the bar and slinking inside, scanning the patrons. Andre sits alone at a table in the dark corner, their usual table, a glass in his hand. He glances at her as she sits across from him, setting the glass on the table in front of him. "Do you want something to drink?" he inquires.

Trina shakes her head. "No, but we need to talk. I think I know how we can destroy Tori," she murmurs, loud enough for only him to hear. He raises a brow, urging her to continue. "I went to the church—"

"Why did you go there?!" he demands too loudly, earning the attention of the table nearest to them. Trina shakes her head with an apology and waits until they return to their own conversation before turning back to her companion. "Sorry," Andre mutters. "Why did you go there, though? I thought we all swore we'd never go back there…Tori will kill you if she finds out."

"Look, I went there to apologize to Jade, something I should have done a long time ago. It's my fault that Tori turned into this psychopath bent on murdering everyone, and I needed to make something right about it." She sighs. "Anyway, I think I know how to destroy Tori."

"Do you really?" a voice asks, and Trina freezes, realizing that the bar had gone completely silent and that everyone had heard her admittance. Her eyes are locked with Andre's and she realizes the man is fighting the urge to run. "Pray tell, Trina, how you think that would be possible? Or are you just lying and giving false hope to Andre?"

"I didn't—"

A hand tangles in her hair and yanks her head back until she's staring up at Tori, whose eyes have darkened with rage. "I asked you a question, Trina." She glances around the bar at the frightened customers. "Does anyone else have a plan to overthrow me? Please, don't hesitate to speak now!" The silence is deafening in the usually chatter-filled establishment. Tori pulls at Trina's hair again, forcing her to her feet. "I thought you had something to say."

"Tori, don't do this. Jade—"

"Oh now you respect Jade, huh? It's a little too fucking late for that, don't you think?" She shoves Trina to her knees and twists her wrist, jerking Trina's neck into a dangerously uncomfortable position. "All it takes is one snap," she threatens. "Tell me what your plan is."

"I don't have one," Trina lies.

"Of course you do. Otherwise you wouldn't have rushed to come and see Andre and said that you did." Tori's hand tightens in her hair and Trina feels a pop. "If you tell me, I'll spare you."

"Leave her alone!" a male voice shouts from the other end of the room and Tori growls, her hand remaining tangled as she turns her body to face her challenger. Robbie stands by the door, gun in his hand, pointed at the demonic ruler. "Let go of her or I swear to God I'll pull the trigger."

Tori chuckles, but obliges, leaving Trina resisting tears as she slumps onto the floor. "Oh, Robbie, you really think that I can be killed, just like that?" A darkness creeps around the bar, dimming the lights, and Trina can see Robbie's hand shaking through the near-black. His eyes dart toward Trina with one plea: _run_.

Trina nods and staggers to her feet, grabbing Andre's hand and sprinting for the opposite exit, slamming the door open as three gunshots ring through the air. Neither looks back as they hurry to find somewhere to hide, confused when Beck seems to be waiting for them at the church, ushering them inside.

Closing the door behind them, Andre and Trina double over to catch their breaths, and Beck peeks through the window to see if Tori has begun searching for them. An agreeable silence blankets them, save for their steady breathing and Trina frowns, facing Beck. "How did you know…?"

Beck hands her a tiny rectangular remote. "Jade said you would know what to do."

Andre looks between them in confusion, and Trina glances toward the casket. "Yeah, she told me herself," she explains, now certain of the voice and its instructions. Returning her attention to Beck, she shakes her head. "You're not coming with us," she states, knowing the truth.

He sighs. "She told me that only you and Andre could do it, that anything else would cause complications and fuck everything up. But now that Robbie…Cat's going to need protection. You two need to go now, before we all face the same fate."

Trina nods and grabs Andre's wrist, pushing in their destination year. A vortex appears and she shoves Andre through, just as the doors to the chapel slam open in an explosion of power, and her eyes meet Beck's in fearful guilt. He rushes toward Tori to hold her off, but she waves her hand and sends him flying, before she lunges at Trina, both of them toppling into the vortex, closing it off.

Trina lands with a sickening thud, a body dropping onto her, and she gasps at the effect of being winded. Pushing the body off of her, she sits up and glances around, absorbing the sight of the untouched church. Nothing is charred, broken, or destroyed. There is no casket, no vortex, no Beck.

"Holy shit, it worked."


End file.
